


Grappling Practice

by ilovethethings



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-31 03:37:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21439591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilovethethings/pseuds/ilovethethings
Summary: Beau asks Yasha to train with her to try and help things get back to normal now that Yasha is back and no longer possessed. It goes very well.
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Yasha
Comments: 3
Kudos: 112





	Grappling Practice

Everything has felt slightly awkward since Yasha has been back. No one blames her for what happened, not anymore, but that doesn’t mean they can all just go back to the way they were. The Xorhouse feels like a library, too quiet, with everyone worried that they’ll accidentally be too loud or take up too much space. Beau usually loves libraries, but she’s tired of the awkwardness and she was never very good at dancing around things. She’s gotten better at using her words lately, but this seems like one of those situations where her fists are actually the better solution.

“Hey Yasha,” she says gruffly at breakfast the next morning, “wanna train with me later?”

Yasha raises her eyes to Beau’s, trying to gauge her intent. “I would like that, yes,” she responds quietly after a moment. 

“Cool, meet you on the roof in an hour?”

Beau gets a nod and an almost invisible smile in response.

***

“So. What should we start with?” Yasha’s quiet question brings Beau back to the present, away from the text she was reading about the Calamity. 

“Well,” she grunts as she flips backwards to her feet in a move that she learned because she knows it makes her look good, “I was thinking that we could work on some stuff that we could use the next time one of us is possessed or something.”

Yasha raises her eyebrows in surprise. “You think there will be a next time?”

“Well it’s happened what, three or four times already? And with our luck it’s bound to happen again. I just thought, instead of punching or stabbing each other half to death, we could try to tie the person up until Jester or Caduceus can bring them out of it.”

Beau is looking down for the majority of this short speech, shifting slightly from foot to foot. She looks up as she finishes, looks right in Yasha’s eyes, and it’s all Yasha can do, suddenly, to not burst into tears, remembering exactly how she felt both times she was charmed, like she was having a nightmare that wouldn’t end, no matter how much she tried to force her eyes open. One of those nightmares where you know you’re dreaming, so you should be able to control everything, right? But for some reason you can’t, and that’s worse than if you didn’t realize you were dreaming at all. 

But of course, she doesn’t explain any of that, she just nods, and says “That’s a good idea Beau.”

Beau grins and moves into a fighting stance, left foot forward, knees slightly bent, hands up but not in fists yet. “Okay, so first let’s work on some arm drags and bearhugs.”

The next hour or so flies by. Yasha and Beau are both used to fighting and training in close contact with other people, so they’re used to focusing on the actual techniques and not the many places that their bodies are connected, over and over again. Beau thinks briefly that Jester would be impossible to train this way, with her endless talent for innuendos and inappropriate comments.

After the bearhugs, Beau moves on to takedowns. They work on a variety of single- and double-leg takedowns, and Yasha knows she shouldn’t be surprised that Beau is so good at them, but it’s hard not to be impressed when someone who looks about half your size can throw you to the ground before you even fully realize what’s happening. They start to get a little competitive, but competitive also isn’t really the best way to describe it. Each time one of them does a particularly fast or brutal takedown, the other will smile or praise them or even laugh a little as they get lifted back to their feet. They can’t help it. For Beau, fighting is her happy place, it’s always fun for her and even more so now, when she has the added bonus of feeling proud of her temporary student. For Yasha, it’s so freeing to be able to spar with someone and have it not be life or death. Every move she makes is entirely of her own volition and every time Beau throws her down she can’t help but be happy knowing that there’s a way to easily take her out if she’s ever charmed again. The smiles and laughter get bigger and louder as they continue, and Beau didn’t even know Yasha could smile that much, and Yasha had forgotten, somehow, that you could laugh so hard that you forgot to breathe. 

“Okay, okay, okay, moving on,” Beau tries to say sternly, but she can’t stop grinning. She reaches down a hand to help Yasha, but she pulls her up faster than she meant to, and suddenly they’re very close, Yasha’s nose almost brushes Beau’s as she straightens up, and she’s still chucking a little, and Beau realizes they’re still holding hands, and that she has vastly underappreciated the color purple until this moment. 

Yasha blinks and turns away, pretending to study the top of the tower and the tree around them. Beau is worried that she’s about to leave but instead Yasha just takes a few steps away, turns back around to face Beau, and asks simply, “So what’s next?”

Beau takes in a relieved breath. “Dairon taught me some takedowns you can do if you’re able to get someone up against a wall. I’m not as good at them yet as the other ones we did, but we can try a few.” She looks at the stone and wood surrounding them. “We might need some extra padding though.”

***

Ten minutes later they’re back on the roof, giggling as quietly as they can while propping Fjord’s mattress against an undecorated part of the tree. 

“Should we wrap some rope around it or something?” Beau picks up the length of rope they’d been using every few rounds to practice their quick tying, and eyes the tree trying to guess if it would be long enough to go all the way around. 

Yasha nods and grabs one end of the rope while Beau walks around the perimeter of the tree holding the other end. There is just barely enough rope to reach and enough left over to tie the ends together in a shitty knot. Beau and Yasha look at each other and shrug, and Beau starts to go through the steps of the next technique. 

Both Beau and Yasha try to stay disciplined and focused on what they’re working on, but for some reason it’s harder than before. 

Beau slams Yasha into the mattress against the tree and then accidentally grabs her ass instead of her knee. It was something that had happened a few times earlier, but this time Beau mutters an almost unintelligible, “Sorry”, and quickly backs away before starting the attack over from the beginning. 

A little while later, Yasha is talking herself through the steps as she does them and suddenly becomes very much aware of the fact that her head is pressed against Beau’s chest. She can feel her cheeks heating up and stumbles through the rest of the steps, barely succeeding with the grapple. 

But they are both stubborn and determined not to let on that anything is wrong, so they keep going. Some of the reps are fine, everything goes smoothly and it is just so satisfying every time one of them gets it right. Then Yasha might notice Beau’s palms are calloused but her forearms are ridiculously soft. Or Beau might notice a still-pink scar on Yasha’s cheek and wonder if she had been the one to put it there. Every once in a while they have to stop to fix the mattress or retie the rope. 

“Okay, one more rep each?” Beau asks as she gets in position. “Should we try and fight a little harder to stay off the wall and not get taken down?”

“Sounds good,” Yasha smiles, “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

They trade a few light blows back and forth, and Beau is briefly surprised by how nimble Yasha is. “Maybe… you should give up that big ass… sword and just punch people… like me,” Beau gets out in between strikes. 

As Yasha laughs in response, Beau sees her opening and dives in, pinning Yasha to the mattress before pulling her legs out from under her and following her to the ground. They are both giggling by then, slightly breathless from the fight. Beau takes a second to catch her breath, and then takes another second as she is caught again by Yasha’s violet and azure gaze. She knows there are a lot of reasons she shouldn’t make a move; Yasha was recently freed from a traumatic and long possession, she is still grieving her wife, she is a part of the team and Beau can’t just avoid seeing her the next day. But Yasha is strong, and she is still smiling, and Beau is straddling her, and she’s only human right? So she starts to lean closer, and Yasha doesn’t move, just keeps staring at her with those eyes that should be unnerving but somehow aren’t.

And then suddenly their faces are slammed together, literally slammed, Yasha’s nose is in Beau’s eye, her chin pressed to her mouth. For a half a second, Beau thinks that Yasha has just pulled her in too fast, but then she realizes that the mattress has fallen on top of them, and once again they’re laughing, harder than they have all day, slightly squished together, Beau’s head resting in the crook of Yasha’s neck. 

Gradually their laughter subsides, but they still haven’t moved. 

“Beau?” Yasha’s voice sounds even quieter than usual and Beau raises her head slightly to look at her. As she does, she feels Yasha’s fingers climbing lightly up her sides. Her eyes are questioning, and it takes all of Beau’s restraint to move slowly (although truly, it wasn’t really that slowly), with a smile spreading across her face, to press her lips to Yasha’s. 

She doesn’t really know what she had expected, but Yasha is the first person she has kissed in a while (or maybe ever) who she has known and thought about kissing for more than a few days. This matters, more than a lot of things she has done besides saving her friends’ lives, and the nervous feeling in her stomach adds to the whole experience in way she doesn’t totally hate. Fucking butterflies. 

Yasha almost feels like her hands have a life of their own. They just keep climbing up Beau’s back, until they meet over her spine and strengthen, holding Beau in place on top of her. There is still a part of her that feels guilty, like she shouldn’t move on now or maybe ever. But after weeks of being unable to do even the tiniest thing for herself, she needs this more than she could have imagined before. 

Beau’s hands are cupping Yasha’s face and she is simultaneously trying to fully enjoy the moment and also give the best performance of her life, such as it was. They are both smiling into their kisses, and hungry, and happy. Who knows what would have happened, certainly they don’t, if they hadn’t heard pounding footsteps coming up the stairs. They both tilt their heads to try and see past the edge of the mattress that was still on top of them, as Fjord’s voice rings out, 

“Beau, Yasha! Are you up here? Have you seen my mattress, I think Nott took it for some reason but she swears she hasn’t seen…it…” he trails off as he reachs the top of the stairs and takes in his mattress, covered in dirt and bark, shaking slightly as Beau and Yasha once again burst into a fit of giggles which quickly grows to wild laughter. Beau springs to her feet, still laughing and wiping tears from her eyes and throwing the mattress off of them in the process.

“No,” she chokes out, “sorry man, can’t help you, maybe you should ask Jester.”


End file.
